SELECT @@collation_connection; CREATE TABLE t1 ENGINE=HEAP AS SELECT REPEAT (' ', 10) AS a LIMIT 0; ALTER TABLE t1 ADD KEY (a); CREATE TABLE t2 (a VARCHAR(10)); INSERT INTO t2 VALUES ('0'),('1'),('2'),('3'),('4'),('5'),('6'),('7'); INSERT INTO t2 VALUES ('8'),('9'),('A'),('B'),('C'),('D'),('E'),('F'); INSERT INTO t1 SELECT CONCAT('a',t21.a,t22.a) FROM t2 t21, t2 t22 ORDER BY 1; DROP TABLE t2; INSERT INTO t1 VALUES ('a '); SELECT a, HEX(a) FROM t1 WHERE a='a'; DROP TABLE t1;